He was greatly influenced by Tchaikovsky, whose unexpected death in 1893 was a great blow to Rachmaninov.

Rachmaninov's first symphony, first performed in 1897, was slated by critic César Cui. The performance, conducted by Alexander Glazunov, had not been a good one - possible reasons were poor use of rehearsal time and the possibility that Glazunov had been drunk. The bad reception caused a three-year depression, during which Rachmaninov was unable to write. In 1900, Dr Nikolai Vladimirovich Dahl, a competent amateur viola player, gave Rachmaninov a course of autosuggestive therapy, and the composer's confidence gradually returned. The following year he completed his second piano concerto, which became an immediate success.

He left Russia with his family at the end of 1917, his way of life threatened by the series of revolutions that year. After a year playing concerts in Scandinavia, he decided to emigrate to the USA at the end of 1918, and supported his family by touring as a pianist. Pressure of work and homesickness slowed his composition work, and he only completed six works between arriving in the USA and his death from melanoma on 28 March 1943, aged sixty-nine, in Beverly Hills, California.